Matthew, Disciple and Scribe

by Patrick Schreiner

  1. G. K. Chesterton, “Riddle of the Ivy.”

  2. Peter Leithart (Jesus as Israel) has already argued a form of this in his introduction to his Matthew commentary. I will follow him in many ways, add to his discussion, and then depart from him in others. He does not gather the entire movement under the banner of exile.

  3. For a good introduction to this method, see Roberts and Wilson, Echoes of Exodus.

  4. This is not to deny that there were some issues with pseudonymity.

  5. In this sense, this chapter works against mistakes that regularly occur in the current study of the NT use of the OT. Sometimes these studies restrict themselves to “quotations” and forget that large narrative movements also have resonances. With the help of C. H. Dodd, scholars are realizing that quotations are reaching back to whole contexts; yet this step is not enough. Even if we work with quotations and their past contextual whole, we may forget to tie these to the current narrative as a whole. In other words, we can atomize on both horizons. In sum, though there has been a narrative turn in the study of the Gospels, it has not turned enough to study how the Gospel writers especially have employed the OT.

  6. As evidenced by numerous proposals, only a few of which I list here. Allison, “Structure, Biographical Impulse, and the Imitatio Christi”; Carter, “Kernels and Narrative Blocks”; Lohr, “Oral Techniques in the Gospel of Matthew”; Matera, “Plot of Matthew’s Gospel”; Powell, “Narrative-Critical Understanding of Matthew”; Smith, “Fivefold Structure in the Gospel of Matthew.”

  7. Yet there are many minor differences within these proposals.

  8. Largely through the discourses, but the narratives also support this argument.

  9. Bacon, “Five Books of Matthew”; Bacon, Studies in Matthew; Enslin, “Bacon on the Gospel of Matthew.”

  10. For example, Allison (Studies in Matthew, 138) says, “Once one abandons the vain attempt to construct a Matthean Pentateuch, what is the rationale for such procedure? What happens when instead one simply evaluates each narrative section and each discourse on its own terms, as a large thought unit? The results, in my judgment, allow both the structure and plot of the First Gospel to emerge clearly.” Kingsbury (Matthew as Story, 113) flatly denies the Pentateuchal connection: “Contrary to what many scholars have claimed over the years, the great speeches of Jesus do not constitute the climactic feature of Matthew’s Gospel nor do they stand apart from the rest of the story being told.”

  11. See Gundry, Matthew, 10–11.

  12. Allison, New Moses.

  13. Leithart, Jesus as Israel, 11.

  14. Leithart acknowledges that he builds on Allison, Gundry (Use of the Old Testament, 210), and Goulder (Midrash and Lection in Matthew).

  15. Pennington, Heaven and Earth.

  16. Schreiner, Body of Jesus. Leithart (Jesus as Israel, 53–54) also looks to the generations for a new creation theme: “Six weeks of generations are between Abraham and Jesus and that means that Jesus is the first name in the seventh seven, the beginning of a new week, the week of the new creation.”

  17. Eloff, “Exile, Restoration.”

  18. Hays, Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels, 110–11.

  19. Adam has “wisdom” in the garden, but the serpent is “crafty” and tempts Adam and Eve to eat of the tree of “knowledge.” Ezekiel 28:12 says, “You were the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.” If we view the story line from this perspective, returning from exile is regaining wisdom. See Longman, Fear of the Lord Is Wisdom, 94–100.

  20. The theme of “return from exile” will return with greater clarity in Matt. 26–28.

  21. Nolan (Royal Son of God, 228–32) briefly develops the theme of Jesus as wisdom since wisdom possesses creative and redemptive functions.

  22. Or at least related to the Creator in a personified way.

  23. The Jews were hoping for a return from exile, a return to their land, an establishment of their kingdom. As Dempster (Dominion and Dynasty) has noted, the twin themes of geography (dominion) and genealogy (dynasty) run a straight line through the OT and right into the NT.

  24. Leihart and Goulder argue that this section is about Joseph (Gen. 37–50). Goulder points out that the original Joseph ben Jacob has a set of three dreams, and Matthew’s Joseph (also ben Jacob, 1:16) has three dreams (1:20; 2:13; 19). Both of the dreams lead them to Egypt but also end up protecting the promised line from destruction. This also works well because in the OT Joseph precedes Moses and the exodus. I don’t think these correspondences necessarily need to be pitted against each other, but the lexical connections make the Abraham tie more convincing.

  25. Erickson, “Joseph and the Birth of Isaac.”

  26. Hays (Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels, 140) says, “Jesus saves people from their sins (1:21) by representatively overcoming their unfaithfulness––proleptically in his baptism (3:15) and wilderness temptation (4:1–11), where he shows himself to be the obedient ‘Son of God’ in a way that Israel had failed to be, and definitively in the passion/resurrection narrative. Thus, as Messiah, he brings the exile to an end (1:17).”

  27. That Jesus is functioning as both a new Israel and a new Moses need not be put at odds, for it is Moses who is connected to the deliverance from Egypt.

  28. Piotrowski (Matthew’s New David) even argues that Matthew’s quotations draw on texts associated with Israel’s exile and restoration and therefore evokes the “end-of-exile.”

  29. Beale, “Use of Hosea 11:1 in Matthew 2:15.”

  30. In Exod. 13:3 Moses tells the people to “remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery, for by a strong hand the LORD brought you out from this place.” The Jews even had a feast in which they ate unleavened bread to remind them of the day they came out of the land. Again and again in the Prophets, the people are reminded of the day when they were brought out of the land of Egypt (Hosea 12:13; Amos 2:10; 3:1; Mic. 6:4; 7:15).

  31. Since we are products of our modern Western culture, we still tend to read a given OT statement in only a grammatical-historical manner, considering it almost exclusively from the perspective of the human author’s understanding and point in time. But Christ has bound together the disparate strands of the temporal flow into a unity of essence and meaning. The supernatural has impregnated history so deeply that there must be a further meaning to historical events.

  32. Hays, “Matthew: Reconfigured Torah,” 174.

  33. It seems that the idea Matthew draws out of Hosea was there germinally, but this does not mean Hosea had the messiah in mind when he penned 11:1. “One might accuse Matthew of pulling this verse out of context because the reference in Hosea is clearly to Israel. However, Matthew’s point is not to prove a point, but to make a point, namely that we should be reading the life of Christ in light of Israel” (Hays, “Matthew: Reconfigured Torah”) and the history of Israel in light (now) of Christ.

  34. Stern, Midrash and Theory, 108.

  35. The exile theme is also hinted at by the use of Jer. 31:15 in Matt. 2:18 and the reference to Ramah, the place where Israel went into exile (Jer. 40:1).

  36. In chapter 5, I mentioned some of the connections to Moses: (1) Jesus goes up on the mountain, (2) it is the mountain, and finally (3) he sits down. The Beatitudes might also mirror the Ten Commandments in that the first four concern our relationship to God, and the second four concern our relationship to other humans.

  37. Pennington, Sermon on the Mount, 140–41.

  38. Allison, Studies in Matthew, 119–20. Allison makes reference to Eusebius and Theodoret of Cyrrhus making these connections.

  39. Others have proposed that in chaps. 8–9 there are ten miracles, which mirror the ten plagues that the Lord sends upon Egypt. Chae (Jesus as the Eschatological Davidic Shepherd) argues that the sheep and shepherd metaphors (9:36) relate to the restoration of the house of Israel. This lines up with both Mosaic and Davidic themes.

  40. Leithart, Jesus as Israel, 23–24.

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nbsp; 41. Garland, Reading Matthew, 110.

  42. Allison (Studies in Matthew, 120–21) ties Matt. 10 with Exod. 12. Many of the articles of clothing or accessories that Jesus instructs his disciples not to take on the journey are the same items the Israelites had with them as they rushed out of Egypt. Furthermore, he points out that according to Deut. 8:4 and 29:5, the Israelites’ clothes and sandals did not wear out while in the wilderness, which may be a reason why Jesus’s disciples did not need to worry about taking much. The references to Deuteronomy are intriguing, since they take place before the conquest of the land.

  43. Two times Jesus tells his disciples “Do not be afraid” (μὴ φοβεῖσθε, Matt. 10:28; 14:27) and once “Don’t worry” (10:19). These are similar to the injunctives given by Moses and Joshua (e.g., Num. 14:9; 21:34; Deut. 31:8).

  44. Leithart, Jesus as Israel, 28.

  45. Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God, 393–94.

  46. Leithart, Jesus as Israel, 30.

  47. The king also proclaims justice, and 2 Sam. 8:15 gives a summary statement of David’s reign over Israel, saying that he administers “justice and equity” to all his people.

  48. See the first chapter (above) for a more extended argument of Jesus being presented as a teacher of wisdom in Matthew as a whole but especially in chap. 13.

  49. Perkins, “‘Greater than Solomon.’”

  50. If one follows Davies and Allison (Matthew, 2:373) in their trifold structure, then there are three subsections in each block.

  51. Davies and Allison (Matthew, 2:463) and France (Gospel of Matthew, 547) claim that there is no clear structure at this point.

  52. Leithart, Jesus as Israel, 32.

  53. In the same way, Pilate acts as an “anti-king,” who, as Herod did with John the Baptist, seizes Jesus (Matt. 26:4; cf. 14:3), binds him (27:2; cf. 14:3), and does not initially want to put him to death because he fears the people (21:46; cf. 14:5). Pilate’s hand is forced, despite his wife’s involvement, but he is sorry (27:11–26; cf. 14:6–12). After Jesus dies, his disciples come, take his body, and bury it, as John’s disciples did for him (27:51–61; cf. 14:12).

  54. The emphasis on bread holds this section together. Herod throws a feast for his birthday (14:1–12), Jesus feeds the five thousand (14:13–21), the Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem ask about washing hands before eating (15:1–9), Jesus speaks to the Canaanite woman about bread (15:21–28), he feeds the four thousand (15:32–39), and he warns the disciples about the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees (16:5–12). This bread then is most likely tied to Elisha, whose ministry also has food as a central theme. Elisha’s ministry revolves around the gift of food: he heals Jericho’s waters (2 Kings 2:19–22), provides food for the sons of the prophets (4:38–41), multiplies loaves to feed the multitude (4:42–44), gives bread to Aramean (Syrian) soldiers (6:20–23), and prophesies the end of the famine after the siege of Samaria (7:1, 18–20). Therefore, as the new Elijah dies, the new Elisha steps onto the scene.

  55. Leithart (Jesus as Israel, 36) ties the rescue of Peter from the water with Elisha making the axe head float (2 Kings 6:1–7). I am not sure that this connection works as well.

  56. Or one could tie this story to 1 Kings 17:8–24, which is also a possibility. Elisha also faces a woman seeking help, a woman who throws herself at his feet at Mount Carmel (2 Kings 4:25, 27). Though this does not continue the chronology, Matthew does not need to follow it exactly. Here he seems more concerned with presenting Jesus largely as the new prophet in the divided kingdom.

  57. Leithart, Jesus as Israel, 33.

  58. I am indebted to Leithart (Jesus as Israel, 36) for these observations.

  59. Leithart (Jesus as Israel, 34) ties this to Elisha, who is unlike Elijah in being constantly surrounded by his disciples. Though readers have already been introduced to the community in Matt. 16, Jesus does uniquely form his new community in chaps. 18–20. This teaching has already been foreshadowed in Matt. 16, where Jesus instructs his disciples to take up their crosses.

  60. Though some might balk at this simple connection, the rest of the correspondences we have seen give it more weight.

  61. Leithart, Jesus as Israel, 38. The entry could even have resonances with the story of Elisha anointing Jehu as king (2 Kings 9). “Then in haste every man of them took his garment and put it under him on the bare steps, and they blew the trumpet and proclaimed, ‘Jehu is king’” (9:13). Yet Jehu must battle with Joram, as Jesus battles with the current leadership when he enters the city.

  62. The vineyard theme continues as Jesus tells two parables about vineyard owners (Matt. 20:1–16; 21:33–44) and another about a father who sends his sons to work in the vineyard (21:28–32). As with the prophets (Isa. 3:14; Jer. 12:10; Hosea 2:12), the vineyard is a metaphor for Israel. The Lord has cared for it diligently, but it fails to produce fruits and rejects the prophets, so the Lord will give it over to other nations and let it be destroyed and chopped down. Jeremiah specifically speaks against the shepherds who have destroyed his vineyard: “They have trampled down my portion; they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. . . . They shall be ashamed of their harvest because of the fierce anger of the LORD” (Jer. 12:10, 13).

  63. Leithart, “Least of These.”

  64. Yet there is some question of whether the OT canon was closed at this point. See Peels, “Blood ‘from Abel to Zechariah.’”

  65. This paragraph is largely dependent on Hays, Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels, 137.

  66. Noticeably, the sections covered get progressively longer. This should not be a stumbling block, since Matthew also bunches his fulfillment quotations in the first part of his narrative and then in the latter half lets them stand over large blocks of the narrative.

  67. The blood in the OT is tainted by sin; Jesus’s blood is pure.

  68. Gore is not a major emphasis in Matthew’s cross scene. Yet out of the eleven references to “blood” in Matthew’s Gospel, six of them do occur in chaps. 26–28, and only one before Matt. 23.

  69. Moffitt, “Righteous Bloodshed,” 300.

  70. In one sense, the divisions I have created are artificial, for all of Matt. 21–28 is of one piece.

  71. Hays, Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels, 142.

  72. Moffitt, “Righteous Bloodshed,” 319.

  73. Leithart, Jesus as Israel, 41.

  74. See Deut. 27:25; 1 Sam. 19:5.

  75. See Hays (Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels, 132), who argues that Pilate’s image inverts Deut. 21:7–8 and puts a Gentile ruler in the place of Israel when Jerusalem calls for his blood to be upon their heads.

  76. See Moffitt, “Righteous Bloodshed,” 306–8. C. Hamilton (Death of Jesus) argues that innocent blood signals the end of exile.

  77. Three times in this section Matthew alludes to Zechariah (Matt. 21:4–5 = Zech. 9:9–10; Matt. 24:30 = Zech. 12:10–14; Matt. 26:31 = Zech. 13:7). Jesus is thus the shepherd messianic king, whose coming leads to his death. Ham shows how eleven times Zechariah is cited (3×) or alluded to (8×) in Matt. 21–27, including two of Matthew’s fulfillment quotations (Matt. 21:5; 27:9–10) coming from Zechariah, thus framing the Zechariah references. It is not difficult to see how the theology of Zechariah has influenced the theology of Matthew. See Ham, Coming King; Foster, “Use of Zechariah”; Moss, Zechariah Tradition.

  78. Matthew attributes this text to Jeremiah because the text is a mosaic of scriptural texts, some of which come from Jeremiah. Matthew most likely says it is from Jeremiah because Jeremiah is the one most commonly associated with potters and the buying of a field. In fact, Matthew seems to be taking the motifs of both coins and a potter’s jug and picking up various texts as a magnet picks up paper clips as it goes by (Jer. 18:1–11; 19:1–13; 32:14; Zech. 11:13). Yet Judas knows that he has betrayed “innocent blood” (Matt. 27:4, 24; Jer. 26:15).

  79. See Moss, Zechariah Tradition, 174:

  The chief priests and the elders of the people take counsel to arrest Jesus by s
tealth (Mt 26.1–4). After the costly anointing of Jesus by the unnamed woman (Mt 26.6ff), Judas approaches the chief priests, who pay him a paltry thirty pieces of silver to deliver Jesus to them (26.14–15). Following the supper at which Jesus has revealed his betrayer is one of the Twelve, Judas leads the arresting party from the chief priests and elders of the people to Jesus and betrays him with a kiss (26.47–50). Jesus is led to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and elders have gathered (26.57). When Judas sees that Jesus has been condemned, he returns the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, in remorse over his sin of betraying innocent blood (27.3–4a). Although they refuse to absolve Judas of his bloodguilt, they are left with the pieces of silver, for Judas has thrown the money down in the temple before departing to hang himself (27.4b–5). The chief priests, knowing they cannot put such blood money in the temple treasury, use the silver coins to buy a potter’s field for use as a burial ground (Mt 27.6–8).